MARCUS CAVAROLI

VETERAN Drogheda United defender Derek Prendergast says he doesn’t believe playing in empty stadia or in front of limited crowds will make any difference to the level of intensity the team play at.

The Drogs squad were awaiting confirmation of a League of Ireland restart date as we went to press yesterday (Monday) and Prendergast is looking forward to getting back in action, how ever many fans are allowed in to games.

Speaking to the Drogheda Independent this week, the 35-year-old centre-half said: ‘ From a supporter’s point of view you want to be there watching your team. Some of them have been there for 50 years or more and it would be hard if they were suddenly told they can’t, because they’re the ones that kept the club alive.

‘As a player, whether you’re playing in front of 1,000 people or 10, it’s still the same job and you’re still going to play to the best of your ability. It [empty stadium] might even make players do better if they’ve been taking stick off the home supporters, but it does make for an exciting finish if you’re chasing a game and the supporters are behind you.

‘I’ve seen one or two of the English Premier League games [behind closed doors], and from what I’ve seen it’s not taken away the competitiveness. The tackles are still going in and the will to win is still there.

‘But I don’t watch too much football, to be honest. I think because I focus so much on training and playing when I’m not at work, the last thing I want to do when I get home is watch a game on TV.’

The one thing that would put a real damper on the season, from Prendergast’s point of view, would be the removal of the chance of promotion, in order to satisfy likely Premier relegation contenders who feel it’s unfair to send teams down at the end of a reduced 18-game campaign.

‘Hopefully whatever talks the FAI are having with clubs, they can come to some solution that everyone can agree to,’ he said.

‘Some clubs in the Premier don’t want relegation and promotion, but if that was the case then you might as well not have a league and start afresh again in February. And if they increased the size of the Premier for next year [to allow for promotion from the First Division but no relegation from the Premier] then the First Division is back with eight teams again and playing each other four times.

‘But fingers crossed each club can get what they want.’

In terms of life under lockdown, Prendergast was lucky to be able to enjoy some rare quality time with his young family, while continuing to be paid through the furlough scheme during the 11 weeks he wasn’t working.

‘The first week or two we went into lockdown was life-changing and it was hard to adjust,’ he said, ‘but after that it was great.

‘I have a logistics role in Ikea as a stock administrator and while I was off we were still being paid 30% of our wages and the Government paid 70%, and recently I read that Ikea will be paying back all the Government furlough money.

‘I’m only back at work two weeks after 11 weeks off and it can be quite a difficult transition then to go back.’

Prendergast, who is in his second spell with the Drogs, having played in four cup finals during the Mick Cooke era in 2012 and 2013, hasn’t crossed paths with any of his teammates since the coronavirus first brought the League of Ireland to a sudden halt in mid March.

However, he doesn’t seem too concerned that rustiness will be a big issue whenever training does resume.

‘Being with a young family - I have a two-yearold and a five-year-old - the last thing you want to do is meet other people,’ he said, ‘because you’d be worried about catching the virus and bringing it back to the house.

‘I’ve a small garden with decking and I’ve kicked a small ball with the kids, but apart from that I’ve not kicked a ball since the last training session.

‘The first couple of weeks after training stopped I was out doing short and sharp runs four days a week because I was hoping that the season would be starting up again pretty soon, but since then I’ve been doing distance runs.

‘If you’d trained for the last 11 weeks with no end game, mentally you would have gone off your head. I felt I needed to give myself a break, so that I can go back fresh rather than over-working myself.

It’s like coming back at the start of pre-season, and now that there’s talk about the season starting again I’m back doing my runs.

‘At the beginning of the lockdown I did worry about the dangers of catching the virus when I went back to work. When you’re off you’re in your own bubble and I could decide who I wanted to be around. If I wanted to go to the parents’ house it was my decision.

‘Going back to work, I didn’t know these people or what they do outside of work, but now that I’m back two weeks I can see it’s a controlled environment.

‘Once I get out training, all the worries will go out of my head after 10 or 15 minutes and I’ll be kicking lads and they’ll be kicking me back!’

And with more than three months having elapsed since Drogheda’s last game, Prendergast knows that there’s no certainty that manager Tim Clancy will continue to select him alongside Jack Tuite at the heart of defence, with Hugh Douglas chomping at the bit for his first league start.

‘Regardless of the season stopping, after a game on a Friday night there’s no guarantee you will start the next game,’ insisted Prendergast.

‘If I saw someone in my position training well I’d know I’d have to up my game and that’s the mentality you need to have going into every training session - to do the best you can.

‘Tim might have had a look back at the first three games and decided there’s players who weren’t at their best and it’s time to look at someone else, so it’s a fresh start for everyone.’